Here There Be Monsters
by kerplank
Summary: His camera is a shield between himself and the real world, where the monsters roam day and night" Minor Slash. One Shot.


So I haven't written anything in ages. Mostly cause I prefer to read waaay more then write. Also, I am writing without the books handy so I am depending on my faulty memory for details. This is SLASH, but it is minor. Very minor, so no worries. One shot. Colin/Cedric, Colin/Dean, Dean/Ginny, Colin/Neville

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Here there be monsters. Son of a milkman, Colin Creevey had never imagined a world like this one. Before he was eleven he was safe from all of the monsters in the world. In the muggle world, monsters stay in story books. Monsters do not become real, and they cannot kill. In the muggle world, there are no basiliks. In the muggle world, werewolves are not teachers. In the muggle world, evil uses guns, not killing curses.

Colin takes his camera and with it snaps images of things that frighten him. His camera is a shield between himself and the real world, where the monsters roam day and night. Watching the tournament in his third year, he snaps a picture of the dragon flaming Cedric Diggory, a boy/man all tall and graceful and beautiful, but not fast enough to evade the flames. Colin isn't afraid of dragons; what he is afraid of is his love.

At the end of the his third year, he snaps a picture of Harry Potter protectively holding Cedric's dead body. Harry's face is pale with shock and pain, but not as pale as Cedric's. Colin fears that one day his face will be that pale and wonders who will hold him. Colin tries not to think who is laying there, once beautiful, and now frozen still. When he develops this photo it goes straight to the bottom of his trunk, among broken quills and pieces of parchment. Pieced together, the parchment reads "Colin Diggory. Colin Creevey-Diggory. Cedric Creevey". His broken heart lies there among other broken things. Here there be monsters.

Dennis Creevey is sitting by himself in the library looking and alone, lost among all of his text books, without anyone to sit beside. Looking so intently at his work, he misses the flash of light that comes from three bookshelves away, the camera placed between "Hogwarts, a History" and a mishelved "Muggles in a Wizarding World". Colin knows that feeling of having few friends, of not fitting into the new world that had been given. Sometimes he felt that he really did not belong in this world of magic and potions, a place with a history that a muggle would never learn in a secondary school. Sons of a milkman, what place did they have in this world? Colin feared that Dennis would become like him.

Colin cannot help but admire Dean Thomas' skill with the quill. A muggleborn like himself, Dean drew wonderful pictures with a quill. Colin had enough problems just writing his name with a quill, let alone drawing landscapes and portraits. He took to watching Dean in the common room, quietly sitting in corner sketching the common room in all of its rowdy glory. The firelight makes Dean's skin glow and Colin catches his breath in surprise as he really looks at Dean, whose mouth is tight in concentration and eyes glancing upwards to view the scene before him, before looking back down at his piece of paper (while he can stand a quill, he cannot stand the rough feel of parchment), where he gives a small smile of contentment.

Colin is gripped with a wish that Dean was looking at him like that. Or anyone really. But most of all Dean, all alight with his passion for drawing, the fire glowing in agreement. The picture Colin takes surprises everyone, even himself, the bright flash unnecessary and startling. Colin does not want to acknowledge his fear, because he knows that it is a truth, not just a fear. When the photo develops, he accepts that no one will look at him the way Dean looks at a silly, stupid piece of paper. And when he hears that Ginny and Dean are dating, this photo finds its way to the bottom of his trunk. Here there be monsters, this time within his own heart.

Neville Longbottom is a bumbling fool but Colin loves to talk to him anyways. He can chirp and squeal with excitement and bounce while talking and Neville just takes it in stride. They talk about everything, Neville mostly listening and Colin doing the rest. Topics range from the uses of dragon dung in Herbology, to the newest photo developing potion. Even when there is nothing more to talk about, Colin tries to find something to say, just to stay in the company of this boy who is quickly becoming a man.

When he is in his sixth year and the school is no longer safe, he and Neville sit up in the Room of Requirement, in a corner that is just for them. Now that the war is so much closer, and there is much more to fear, Colin takes less photos. He and Neville no longer talk, but sit quietly and enjoy the presence of each others company. When he turns to say something, Neville stops him with a kiss. Its a short kiss, not very graceful, and truth be told not all on the lips, but the feeling of being kissed by those chapped lips, made him feel whole. This is what he had been missing all of these years.

Now Colin spends all of his extra time thinking of kissing and being kissed, but all too soon its war. Real war. There is no time for sneaked kisses in their corner, no time to sit quietly and just be, no time for photographs to be taken. The last photo that Colin takes is not planned, or even taken by him. Ginny Weasely had not missed the looks between Neville and Colin and when she saw them sneak back into their corner, she strode over to the table where his camera had been placed in his excitement to see Neville. She lifts it, surprised by its heft, and aims a quick click at the boys as they walked away, hands lightly brushing each other, little fingers curling together. Their shoulders bumped, and they laughed, hip checking each other, Neville winning this little game by pushing Colin into a wall. All of this is captured by a photo that is hastily taken, the composition all off, the exposure level too low, and the focus not set correctly, leaving a hazy feel to the picture.

This photo is never developed. Colin never realizes his fear of losing this, this thing that he and Neville have. Ginny forgets that she took the picture when the Battle of Hogwarts begins, and no remembers to take Colin's camera out of the Room of Requirement. Colin refuses to leave Hogwarts not just because of those short, stolen kisses, but because he wants there to be a Hogwarts left for the muggleborns after him. Here there be monsters, but there are monsters everywhere. Here, there is chance to find the power to fight those monsters. He goes outside battling monster after monster. Sometimes they have the faces of humans, others, less humanoid. And he fights and he fights until he is laying on the cool grass looking up at the night sky, so dark and beckoning.

He is still staring up at the sky when Neville finds him. If Colin could still see, he would see the same pale face on Neville that Harry had a few years before. And if Colin could see, he would see his own pale, pale face, as he was held by Neville. He would smile and softly say "thanks". There is no one else that he would want to hold him. Oliver Wood and Neville carry Colin into the Great Hall, the ceiling just as dark as the sky outside. The photo that is never developed stays on the camera, the image of two boys who are on the brink of manhood forever frozen in time. And somewhere in that sky so dark, Colin sighs. Here there be monsters, but they will cause no more harm on this day.


End file.
